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Leanne Wood outlines Plaid pledge to save and strengthen NHS

Plaid Cymru Leader, Leanne Wood AM, has today renewed her party's pledge to save and strengthen the Welsh Health Service and argued that Plaid Cymru is the only party bringing practical solutions to the health debate in Wales.

She also repeated the Party of Wales' plan to recruit a thousand extra doctors in Wales to ease the pressure on existing GPs and A&E departments, and its long-term aim to integrate health and social care.

Ms Wood said:

"The Welsh Health Service is one of our nation's proudest and most precious creations.

"However, there is no hiding from the fact that this crucial public service is facing a double hit from the Coalition's destructive agenda of cuts and privatisation, and the Labour Welsh Government's gross mismanagement.

"In Wales, only the Party of Wales is demanding financial fairness for our nation so that an over-stretched and under-resourced Health Service has the tools it needs to meet targets and deliver the best care possible.

"With our proposals to integrate health and social care, create a thousand extra doctors in Wales, and improve ambulance services in rural areas, we are the only party bringing practical solutions to the health debate in Wales.

"From ambulance response times to A&E waiting times to cancer treatment waiting times, the Labour party's record on managing our Health Service in Wales reads like a catalogue of shortcomings. The First Minister's denial surrounding these problems is failing staff and patients and it is time he woke up from his complacency.

"In the dying days of the Scottish referendum campaign, the Labour party also teamed up with the Conservative party to protect the Barnett Formula and therefore secure the continued under-funding of Welsh public services.

"To protect the Welsh Health Service, Wales must return as many Plaid Cymru MPs as possible in May to take on the privatisation agenda and to demand an end to the chronic under-funding of our nation so that we can secure the best outcomes for Wales."